At this point I can't help but be excited for the return Schneider will bring and at the same time be pissed off that he won't be a canuck for much longer. A lottery pick will ease that pain. But my goodness has he ever outplayed Luongo this season so far.

Wow huge win, I was pretty much expecting to get killed tonight given it was a back to back on the road against the team who's hopes we dashed last year. Storey of the game was Schneider and the second line swinging momentum back in our favour with some fantastic shifts in the second.

-Luongo had long stretches of great play last season but I'm not sure he had a string where he looked as good as Schneider does right now. Heh, this is going to be interesting to say the least.

-Second line just looked great again tonight. Of course Kesler was the catalyst but booth seems to be getting a little better every game. If Kesler and Higgens can keep this up and Booth can get incrementally better this could be the best second line we have had in years. Not sure I can ever remember a Canuck line with that much size, speed, and strength on the puck.

-Sedins were just getting Killed by the Thorton line in the first but the Coaches adjusted and got away from that match up. That was a huge factor in the second.

-The Sharks remind me of playing NHL94 on my old Sega Genesis. Make a couple of nice plays and all of a sudden your players skate 10% faster, make a few bad plays and your guys turn to slugs. I know every team has momentum swings but the sharks in particular just seem to go into the fetal position when things don't go there way.

-What a joke that late call on Henrik was. There were at least a half dozen, far worse hooks and holds by Shark players that were not called. Sedins get zero respect from the officials, it's unbelievable.

-Cody Hodgson was pretty unlucky not to pick up a point tonight, very good offensive game from him. More importantly however he was one of the 9 forwards used in the 3rd period to protect the lead. Seems he has earned the trust of the coaching staff which means any type of demotion would be unlikely.

-Tough night on the blue line. Bieksa was asleep until the 3rd. Edler got rocked and didn't come back. Ballard and Alberts were Ballard and Alberts. Hamhuis was just OK, and Salo was terrible. Salo in particular was a concern, back to backs on the road might not be manageable for him at this point.

You gotta ask yourself if the Nucks would have won if it were Luo in net.

If I were AV, I'd be hard pressed to put Luo back in. It's a team sport and if the team is winning with Ginger in net, then you leave Ginger in net and Luo rides the pine. Ginger's only 25 and this is a good test to see if he can handle the workload.

We could be looking at Team USA's starting goaltender if Ginger keeps this up.

If he's ready to go, I give Luongo the start against Columbus and you continue to allow the core to build confidence. Kesler, Manny and Hamhuis are beginning to return to mid-season form following tough summers. Luongo, like it or not, is a part of this teams core and he deserves to the opportunity to get into the same groove the rest of his mates are in.

BladesofSteel wrote:If he's ready to go, I give Luongo the start against Columbus and you continue to allow the core to build confidence. Kesler, Manny and Hamhuis are beginning to return to mid-season form following tough summers. Luongo, like it or not, is a part of this teams core and he deserves to the opportunity to get into the same groove the rest of his mates are in.

I would continue to play Schneider until he is no longer the best player in the game.

He is pretty much locking down wins for us right now, it would be crazy to take him out.

Canucks play 15 game in December Lu is going to get his games, but right now you have to go with the hot hand.

I'd be starting Luongo against Clb. Clearly, it is a game we should win, and we'll need both goalies to succeed this year I believe. I've been tough on Roberto too, but he is still a Vezina trophy nominee last year. He's a quality goalie, who was actually playing better before getting hurt. What the team needs is both goalies playing well, with the understanding that AV rides the hot hand, no pre-set #1. And this would stand for the playoffs too...it seems clear this is the position that Gillis/AV are moving too I think.

Another encouraging sign is Booth: he looks like he's getting it together, can see a scoring breakout soon.